BPRC takes in five stowaway male long-tailed macaques upon request of the authorities

4 March 2016

Five male long-tailed macaques that entered the Netherlands as stowaway on a freighter were placed permantly at the BPRC by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. This Ministry is responsible for animal welfare issues. The BPRC is a scientific institute which offers spacious animal enclosures where animals are socially housed.

After their unexpected arrival in 2014 in the Netherlands, the 5 long-tailed macaques were temporarily housed by Stichting AAP, a rescue center in Almere. The purpose of this foundation is to facilitate the process from rescue to final outplacement to a permanent address where the animals will be housed under the best conditions. However, the monkeys were infected with the herpes B virus. The animals do not suffer from this virus themselves and are not sick, but the virus can be very dangerous for people. Partly for this reason, the Dutch Food and Safety Authority (NVWA) started looking for a good place where the animals are well taken care of. This search has resulted in the choice of the BPRC, a location that can meet all the conditions for optimal care with regard to animal welfare, and where all knowledge is available for herpes B infected monkeys. These 5 monkeys are placed in social groups in the existing long-tailed macaque breeding colony. The animals will become part of the breeding program and are not available for animal testing. The long-tailed macaque colony is also used for non-invasive behavioral research.